


coda

by Blue_Rive



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Gen, Mentions of other characters - Freeform, Morally Grey POV Character, Past Child Abuse, and series, some thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:33:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26871457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Rive/pseuds/Blue_Rive
Summary: A reflection on cycles.
Relationships: Luguselwa & Meg McCaffrey (Percy Jackson)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25





	coda

Luguselwa found Meg sitting next to the Cistern. Her young charge was lying on her stomach, staring down at her reflection in the cool, dark water. Her hair was getting long, and the ends of it were soaked. Lu sat down beside her and pulled her hair out of the water, tying it up neatly with a hair tie she had on her. She’s ruffled Meg’s hair plenty, so it’s a bit hypocritical of her, but it’s an old habit from the Household. “There you are, sapling. You want to keep it nice.” 

Meg shrugged. “Nah. Don’t really care.” She chewed on her lip, thinking for a second. “Wanted to talk to you about something, actually.” 

“Oh?” Lu moved closer. Meg moved away. “What?” 

“‘S about m- Nero,” Meg said. “About Nero. Nero.” She repeated it three times over like a mantra, solidifying the name in her mouth. “And you. Lester was talking to me about some stuff. And the things you might’ve done wrong.” A moment to consider. “He said that ‘she’s entan-’” She restrung the words. “He said, you were stuck in the whole deal with Nero too, and like, I’m not gonna blame the other kids or anything, but he said you were an adult, and you were complicit.” The last word is said with a tang of Apollo’s intonation to it. 

“I did the best I could.” She had, hadn’t she? There hadn’t been any other options. She had been bound to follow her path, and she had tried to help Meg through her own as best as possible. “I love you. You know that.”

“Don’t, though. You were always the best one but you never tried to do anything.” Meg’s words sounded rehearsed, like when Lu used to talk her through what to say when they had to hide things from Nero. Meg had always clammed up when she was afraid. It was worrying to think she might need help from _someone else_ , to talk to _Lu_. That wasn’t the order it was supposed to go in. 

A pause while Meg sorted through what she wanted to say next. “Guess it wasn’t your fault. He hurt you, too. Lester says that it’s hard to break out of toxic environments and change. But it’s possible, and you gotta do it.” She blew a piece of hair out of her face. "Lucius yelled at me earlier. Said I was a traitor." 

"You don't have to deal with this alone," Lu offered. 

"Thanks. Yeah, I'm trying to not. I talked to Emmie and Jo, and then obviously Apollo, and everyone here. I'm not in charge or nothing."  Before Lu can process that, Meg continued, "But that's not the point, right, the point is he's still messed up, and all of them are. Cause it's a process. But you can't just sit there and decide not to improve cause you 'did your best'. Specially cause they're all kids, and you're not. If you mess up, 's more on you."

“My sapling,” Lu said, taking her young charge’s hand, “I’m old, and when you are old, you learn there are cycles to these things. The myths happen, over and over, and there is nothing you can do to change them. What matters is how you work within those lines.”

Meg’s nose scrunched up. “Don’t think that’s right. Was talking to Lester ‘bout that, too, and some others.” She leaned back over the Cistern, flicking the surface and making it ripple. “Cause the thing with demigods is that they don’t work like that. That’s why the gods have to use us for their missions and things. They used to think it was only the gods who’re stuck like that. And that’s not right, either.” 

“The gods have never escaped their patterns.” Lu tried to think of a frame of reference that Meg could understand. Greeks, that’d do. “Kronos was cruel to his children, so Zeus was cruel to his, and so-” 

“And so Lester.” Meg nodded like that settled it.

“What do you mean by that?” Lu asked. Gentle. Encouraging. Trying to get Meg to talk more.

Meg did not look encouraged. She looked upset. “I-” Took another moment to think of what to say. Closed her eyes, took a deep breath, opened them again. “Lester, right, his dad treated him wrong and so- not just cause of that, but partly- when he was Apollo he was kinda the worst, but then he _changed._ And he’s a god. I talked to him, and he says he’d thought at first that being mortal was why he could have all those new emotions and stuff, but turned out that it was just ‘a change of perspective’. An’ as a god, he could have changed as well if he’d tried.” 

This was one of the longest speeches Meg had ever given. It hit Lu suddenly that Meg had become more articulate as of late, less careful of her every word. Her influence hadn’t done anything for that; that was all Meg herself. She had grown and changed a lot, in those six months she’d been with Apollo. And Lu… Lu had kept doing Nero’s work. 

“And he’s trying to get more people to change now,” Meg pressed on, “and some are doing it on their own without him even helping. He’s been talking to me about it.” She made a face. “I don’t know most of these people. He just likes gossiping.” 

Lu laughed. 

Meg punched her in the shoulder. “Lemme talk!” Regained some seriousness. “Nah, but like, he’s talking about… Clarisse and Ares, don’t know their deal but they’re working it out, and Lit’s trying to fix things with his sister, and _all_ of the gods have started talking to their kids a bunch, and like… even the ones that aren’t Greek are trying.” 

She turned to look directly at Lu. Sunlight caught the rhinestones on her glasses, making them gleam. “It’s never hopeless. You have to try, and if it works, you can start a new cycle. A better one.”

**Author's Note:**

> the percy jackson series definitely not perfect, but it shaped my life and led me to meeting one of my best friends, and it really is legitimately good, and now it's over and i'm trying to process that ;lsfkjl;adsklfdsa
> 
> this isn't a grand piece- it's not at all lengthy, or anything like that- but it's a lot of my thoughts on the tower of nero, specifically, and trials of apollo, more loosely, and really all of rick riordan's pieces, and a discussion of some of the themes thereof. i think it's a nice tribute to commemorate the end of the series. 
> 
> leave a comment!


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